It usually works in three main battlegroups:
1. Mage-Priest with FE Horde, GFE and Ghekkotah Hunters Troop

This Group is really versatile, strong and surprisingly fast, surge is very powerful if used correctly. The Hunters serve as support and chaff for the main Combat units.
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2. Ankylodon, Tyrants and Ghekkotah Warriors

The Ankylodon serves as an anchor in the middle of the army, supported by the Tyrants on one side and usually the FE on the other, the Ghekkotah Warriors are usually deployed as chaff or as a flaking unit if the oportunity arises.
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3. Twin Skylords

These guys are like a Swiss knife, usually being annoying and even serving as chaff if its needed. If you see a flank or a rear they go for it.​

For my first update I will make a mini battle report that happened between game 5 and 6.

Due to a problem with my league opponent in November (he eventually retired from the league) I had to play two games in December, that meant playing Dominate! twice and was so unlucky to face against Kingdoms of Men on both occasions, different armies and opponents but still...

This was the first of those games, is was my first time against KoM also, I was in such a rush that I only could take three pictures sorry. His list was something in lines of this, may have forgotten some magic item or two:

- General on Winged Beast with the Medallion of Life (could be the armour though, not really sure)
- Army Standard Bearer
- Horde of Heavy Pike with Brew of Sharpness
- Horde of Arquebusiers with jar of Four Winds
- Regiment of Knights with Potion of the Caterpillar
- Troop of Knights
- Regiment of Foot Guard
- Cannon
- Siege Artillery

My list was the same as always, so no changes there. My initial plan was to take the centre with my Akylodon facing againts his pikemen (no CS or banechant means that it will be a while before it gets killed) while I deal with the rest of his army.

I deployed my tyrants with the Ghekkotah escort to face his knights and the rest of my army to go for his main shooting in the hopes of dealing with them and not have to suffer those arquebusiers in the late game.

I think he got first turn, but I'm not sure. Anyways halfways on the movement phase of his turn 2 the game was like so:

You can already spot a big mistake on my part on the right flank, I possitioned my Ghekkos to chaff the knights but forgot to turn my tyrants to face them, so they wont be able to charge in retaliation... I told you it was rushed game.

On the other flank things looked much better though, I positioned one of my skylords as a bait just outside the river an the other one hidden behind to jump over his line so if he wants to charge the front one with his troop of knights they will be hindered and set a sneaky countercharge with my GFE.

My hunters move up covering the advance of my FE, if he shoots the hunters I'm OK with that if he chooses to shoot the FE I'm also OK with him hitting on 6s.

He took the bait with the knights and did nothing, he choose to shoot at my FE and did some wounds but not much, on the other flank he crushed the Ghekkotah with ease and I just hope he wiffs the subsequent charge against my tyrants.

On my turn I kill his troop of knights and posistion my other skylord to be annoying and threat a rear charge on his General, also advance as hard as I can with my FE and hunters. I think I got to charge his Pike block in the center and reposition to face the knights with my tyrants.

Not sure why but he decides to back up his knights instead of charging just to shoot the tyrants with the cannon , not that i'm complaning. That gives me the air I need to deal with them, in the next turns they charge and waver them, finally killing them in one more turn. The Pike Block and the Ankylodon keep on grinding and on the left flank my Hunters charge the Siege Artillery (manage to kill the damn thing by turn 6), one Skylord with the FE and GFE charge the shooters and ill them in two turns sadly allowing his Foot Guard to charge and kill the battered FE.

Thanks to the threat of Surge and a clever usage on my Skylords, his general haven't been able to attack yet, with two flyers I can trap him really easily. I did that trick so well he never got to charge a single time. My left flank was completely won by turn 5 and with the knights gone the tyrants got to charge the Pikemen just as they kill the Ankylodon (being very lucky i will add) and with the help of the GFE in the rear, evaporate them, Thank you Brew of Sharpness!!

One of my Skylords went to hunt the cannon , just to be sure he couldn't snipe a unit with a bit of luck and tie the game, while the other keot disrupting the General. The end of the game looked like this:

It was a very clear and overwhelming victory in the end but could have been different if he had taken the opportunity my mistake with the tyrants created. I really have to concentrate more.
ARMY THOUGHTS

I was extremely pleased with how my army performed this game, specially with how I played the Skylords. I really got a glimpse of what their true power is, not brute force but finesse and disruption, really love them.

FE, GFE and M-P absolute ace as always, each time I play I think that is the only real way to go as the core for the Salamanders. They are amazing.

This was the first game where I really felt the Tyrants where outclassed, having that much difficult terrain and not having pathfinder really hurt me. I found them slow and annoying, they only killed things because I paid for the Brew of Sharpness really, but that being said they performed mathematically as a plain FE Horde for 55 more points (including the magic item) not happy with that at all. I still took them for the next game as you can read HERE and was really happy with them but it is true that their effectiveness is very dependable of the terrain.

Well next game is Pillage against Forces of Nature, and i think the list I'm currently running is not ideal to face that enemy, specially the two Skylords againts such a potential Surge threat. So I've thought of this one, tell what you think:

- Skylord with Blade of the Beast Slayer
- Mage-Priest with Surge and Inspiring Talisman
- Hearld on Raptor with the Healing Charm

- Horde of Fire Elementals with Blessing of the Gods
- Horde of Tyrants with Brew of Sharpness
- Regiment of Ghekkotah Warriors with Fire Oil
- Troop of Hunters

- GFE
- Ankylodon

That makes 1500 points on the dot.

My thoughts on the changes are as follow:

Skylord with Blade of the Beast Slayer:I'm expecting a Large Infantry Heavy Army with some monsters so he will be in charge of positioning himself and hunt those units in the rear or flank (15 attacks on 3s means he can deal 6-7 wounds on the charge, I like that)

Healing Hearld: The only thing I'm missing right now for my army is some kind of healing because in the late game my units suffer a lot, so my plan is to use him to take wounds of the Ankylodon mainly so I hope to keep him alive till the end of the game, I've been toying with the idea of using him for a long time and I think that this opponent is the right moment to do so. Also he inspires which I'm also lacking and is really fast to assist where he is more needed.

Fire Oil on the Ghekkoath: This is a small change but still it can impact the game greatly, if I get to flank with them a regen unit, Fire Oil is a very nasty surprise.

Hello again! I'm writing the repost of my last game right now but in the mean time some thoughts on the changes:

Skylord with Blade of the Beast Slayer: I played him the way I thought was best and I think I still would have done the same, but he died before he could get into combat due to a super lucky shooting from my opponent, 8 shots hitting on 5s and wounding on 3s did a staggering 6 wounds... I still think he is a winning combination though.

Healing Herald: He was totally amazing, absolutely amazing help. Thanks to that constant healing chipping away 1-2 wounds a turn ALL my main combat units survived until the end, with a max 5 wounds on them. Will be coming back. I did miss my second Skylord but as I've said before the other one shouldn't have died that soon, but having a back up is good.

The game was amazing and very tactical, in kill figures I outperformed his units every single time. I'm really happy with my army right now.

NEXT GAME PLANNING

I'm playing next week against Orcs in a loot scenario, I need units that can survive with the loot token and fast units that can carry the tokens away if necessary or claim them very early on and back up behind my main battle line.

Fast Units, token grabbers: Ghekkotah Skylord and Ghekkotah Hunters.

Against Orcs I think that my Ankylodon is not a good option, he may survive but facing that much CS1 attacks ad maybe a giant is not ideal with just 10 4+ attacks in return, It's true that having movement 6 if I get to a token early on I can play the range game and shoot at him but I think Orcs are the ideal enemy to finally deploy a Horde of Ancients on Rhinosaurs (using my Stegadon and my Bastiladon, yay!). They are 25 points more expensive so I will take the Blade of the Beast Slayer and the Fire oil, and put those points into them.

Another change I want to try is using two Hordes of Fire Elementals instead of the usual FE / Tyrant display, the reason being that having movement 6 will give me a HUGE advantage over his infantry, also I think I might try a little trick to get them a lot of flank charges and that is to change the Brew of Sharpness for a Wine of Elven Kind giving them nimble , that used on the right moment could give me the game.

- Horde of Fire Elementals with Blessing of the Gods
- Horde of Fire Elementals with Wine of Elven-kind
- Horde of Ancients on Rhinosaurs with Blade of Slashing
- Regiment of Ghekkotah Warriors
- Troop of Hunters

- GFE

I think maybe changing the Regiment of Warriors for a Lekelidon might be a good idea? Thoughts?

Well the game yesterday went well, I would like to say it went as planned but it didn't, my opponent countered my deployment extremely well and his army was tough as nails.

Thoughts on the new units:

Ancients on Rhinosaurs: they are truly amazing, what a great meat grinders. Extremely happy with them, I think they will be substituting my Ankylodon for most games as sad as that makes me but the extra combat power is very welcomed and I will use the Ankylodon miniature that was my main concern so not too much of a problem really. Not sure the Potion of the Caterpillar is going to stay, as the rest of the army is Pathfinder really I can always position the Ancients in a good spot, and even if they make a disordered charge they hit like a wrecking ball, I think I prefer the Blade of the Beast Slayer on my Skylord.

FE with Wine of Elven-kind: Oh how do I like this combo, nimble on surging units opens up such a bast array of tricks it is really amazing. It is expensive compared with having the usual Brew of Sharpness that allows you to hit on 3s but if you manage to flank charge almost every turn it is a better deal (36 attacks on 4s is better than 18 on 3s. Brutal combination, I will write a small tactical sinopsis on them soon.

Lekelidon: I think he is great, sadly I had to chaff him up really early in the game and didn't manage to shoot once, sad. On the other hand he is great as chaff, small footprint, fast and useful alive. On the subject of changing the Hunter for another one that can be a possibility in future games that are not Loot. We will see but for a tournament or as an all comers list Hunter all the way, speed 7 nimble and Pathfinder is the key here.

I'm writing the battle report and will have it finished tomorrow probably, wait for it because that was an incredibly bloody and probably the most challenging game I've ever played.

I'm playing ELIMINATE! (new scenario from the CoK book) against Brotherhood, so I'm facing a hell of a lot of Cavalry.

The scenario is very simple, your three most expensive units get a bounty token, if they get killed in combat your oponnent gets 2 VPs, if they survive you get 1 VP and 1 VP more of you are holding an objective that is placed on the center of the board. So I need to kill and not be killed in return, that means I will be keeping the Herald with Heal and I will try the new 5 point item (Healing Brew) that allows you to heal 1d3 wounds once per game on my Anciets on Rhinosaurs.

I was thinking of getting my Ankylodon back but although he will surely survive I really need more killing power to take out the cavalry. Another thing I was thinking of trying is the improved Kaisenor Lancers, they are cheap, fast and hit like a ton of bricks, with Vicious they can make 8 wounds a turn fairly well or even more if I give them Elite. The only thing I don't like is that in order to get them I have to take out another thing, and sadly it will have to be my good old GFE and then find 10 more points because the other alternative is to loose a Horde of FE and I'm not sure I want that, the thing is that if I take out the Horde then my Lancers will have one of the Bounty Tokens on them and I'm planning on using them very aggressively to hunt down bounties not really caring if they survive as long as they get me VPs but if I drop the GFE then my three Tokens will be one on the Ancients (protected by Healing) and one on each Horde of FE that will fight together and are really hard to shift. So if my enemy goes for their tokens then my fast units will tear him apart and if he concentrates on the Ancients then he can't really dedicate enough points to kill them.

- Horde of Fire Elementals with Blessing of the Gods
- Horde of Fire Elementals with Wine of Elven-kind
- Horde of Ancients on Rhinosaurs with Healing Brew
- Regiment of Kaisenor Lancers with Blade of Slashing
- Troop of Hunters

- Lekelidon

Battle line will be divided into two groups with the Skylord being used to hunt for Warmachines, disorder Cavalry and chaff them or be annoying/distracting:

FAST RESPONSE: Ancients, Lancers, Hunters and the Herald for support

SURGE BATTLELINE: Two Hordes of FE, with the lekelidon in the middle and the Mage-Priest backing them up

Each group has at least one unit to use as Chaff and to clear up chaff (Hunters and Lekelidon), one Inspiring Support and two hard hitters. My intention is to take the central token with my Elementals and hold it while the fast units engage with the main threats.

Thoughts? My only real doubt is if I should give the Elite to the FE or the Lancers...

I'd venture to guess that the centre token will be the most contested, so using Elite on your FE might be best. You want them to stick around after all.

What are your three most expensive?

Click to expand...

I've discovered I only have to assign TWO tokens since we are playing 1500 points, so my two most expensive will be the Ancients and the Nimble FE.

I've had a very interesting conversation in the Salamanders FB group and I was pointed out that I could make my Lancers more deadly by giving them the Brew of Haste, gaining advantage over most of his units and equip the FE with the Blood of the Old King that will grant the FE Elite AND Vicious for one turn, so I have effectively two Kamikaze units that I can use to delete his Bounties.

I'm also planing on making 2 more dice with my company logo as Nerve dice, problem is noone will make me just 2 so I'm thinking about making them myself 3D printing them in wax and casting them in Sterling Silver. I think they can be epic, also as I will file and Polish the dice I can make sure they have extremely accurate proportions, I'm really excited about that actually.